"Ha continuato a tenere fabbrica e negozio aperto": travail, propriété et relations sociales des veuves des maîtres entre pratiques et normes en Italie à l'époque moderne (Turin XVIIIe siècle)

Abstract

This article focuses on working patterns of widows belonging to the artisanal and commercial classes of eighteenth-century Turin and it aims to go beyond the already well known image of the widow such as a destitute person and a privileged beneficiary of poor relief. Census, guilds' regulations and notarial deeds offer evidence of the fact that widows – and women in general independently from their marital status - performed work in the family business, all long their life. Focusing on widows of masters, this article shows that, even if these women were submitted to severe limitations in the management of their property as well as in their capacity to act in business and in the family shop, they did not necessarily succumb to destitution. On the contrary, they were able to take advantage of the economic and social resources, that they built up while running the business with the first husband. In addition, thanks to these resources, in the case of a remarriage, they were able to bargaining their future life and some kind of well being for their children.